Lyoko Accelerated Online
by KnightGamer724
Summary: He thought he was done, fighting with death on the line. They thought they had taken down their worst enemy. Both were wrong. Obviously set in an AU, come along as the Lyoko Warriors and the Black Swordsman fight to end X.A.N.A. once and for all. Part Crack-Fic, part Grand Epic Wannabe.
1. Chapter 1

Lyoko Accelerated Online:

A Sword Art Online and Code: Lyoko Crossover

Chapter One:

Time to save the world

September 2008

"I made no sense of even those words. I heard a voice from somewhere, somewhere far away, a moment before I was robbed of my ability to think. [Kirito-kun... Kirito-kun!] It had a ring so nostalgic, it made me want to cry; a ring so dear I almost went mad. That was—whose voice, I wonder…?"

- _Sword Art Online Volume 14: Alicization Uniting; Chapter 13: The Divisive Battle_

Jeremy yawned as he walked into his Kadic dorm room, late at night. The Lyoko Warriors were busy with a "Beginning of School Year party," having invited many of their friends. For the main group, however, it was a celebration of a finally normal school year. Aelita, Ulrich, Odd, Yumi, William, and Jeremy were all privately celebrating the demise of X.A.N.A. They were excited to actually experience school as it was meant to be.

Now, Jeremy was excited to hit his bed and sleep. It was a long night, and while they didn't have school tomorrow, he was still ready to sleep. But as he opened his door, his computer went off beeping like a maniac. Cursing his luck, he quickly walked over to it, and shut off the volume. As he did so, he realized what it was, and it disconcerted him.

It was the X.A.N.A. alarm, one that he had set up, just in case of his return. Strangely, however, it didn't seem to be reacting to anything X.A.N.A. had done. It had reacted to an email he had received, from an unknown source. Hesitating, he opened it. What was written in it shocked him to his very core…

Ulrich knew that his life was about to get flipped upside down when Jeremy walked into the cafeteria with dead eyes. The same kind of eyes he had while they had taken on X.A.N.A. Quickly, he stood up and walked over to him, startling Odd and Yumi, who hadn't seen Jeremy enter. He walked over and asked, "What's wrong?"

Jeremy sighed as he moved through the line getting food, speaking to Ulrich, who was outside of the line, "Remember the problem we thought we fix?" Ulrich froze, then nodded. Jeremy continued, "Well, it seems that we had eliminated most of it, but not all of it." Ulrich gritted his teeth.

"Well, what do we have to do to get rid of it forever?" Ulrich asked, but Jeremy didn't immediately respond. Instead, he finished walking through the line and headed over to the table. Ulrich followed. Ulrich understood Jeremy's plan. He wanted to talk about whatever he learned with the rest of the group.

When Jeremy got to the group, however, he noticed they were missing a member, "Where's Aelita?" The rest of the gang looked at each other, raising their eyebrows at each other. They were too busy goofing off earlier to notice that she was gone.

She wasn't gone for long, as Aelita quickly arrived, skipping the breakfast line, "Sorry I'm late. I was asked by the Principal to show a transfer student around. She thanked me by getting me some breakfast." She sat down, and immediately picked up her not-boyfriend's expression, "What happened?"

Jeremy sighed, then reached into his pocket. Pulling out a page he had printed out, he looked right at Aelita, "Listen, before we begin, I need you to brace yourself. You, more than anyone else here, will be affected. I will leave the decision to you. Do you want to get involved with this?"

Aelita paused at that statement. Whatever Jeremy had found, it had shaken him. He didn't know what to do. That scared her more than anything. Jeremy always knew what to do. That really should have made her say that they wouldn't get involved. But, something was calling to her. Something told her to ask for it. Something told her that she wouldn't be truly happy without the knowledge Jeremy had.

So, she asked, "What's going on?"

 _To: jeremybotics12_

 _From:__

 _Subject: X.A.N.A._

 _Dear Jeremy Belpois,_

 _Thank you for reading my e-mail, this is extremely urgent._

 _Because we have no time for dallying, I'm going straight to the point. Have you noticed on the news about random power outages, people suddenly disappearing and then reappearing with no memory on where they've been, and the random web sites just shutting down? Doesn't it seem a little familiar? Almost as if X.A.N.A. was back?_

 _I hate to tell you this, but he is._

 _I work for another lab with a quantum supercomputer up in Switzerland. In our supercomputer, we have a digital world called the Cortex. About a week ago, X.A.N.A.'s monsters started attacking the experiments that we have there. We can't fight it off; our own monsters are too weak, and we don't have the virtualization equipment needed to go in ourselves._

 _Why am I telling a 14-year-old kid about the goings on of a cutting-edge tech firm? Because I know you found Franz Hopper's supercomputer and notes on how to use it._

 _This is not a bad thing, quite the opposite really. You have been fighting X.A.N.A. for at least two years, possibly longer because of the Time Reversions you have used to wipe the minds of those who don't need to know._

 _However, you guys are not ready for war. X.A.N.A. is back, and he hates the fact that he was defeated by a group of teenagers. He is looking for the first opportunity to turn on the supercomputer to eliminate you, by killing you._

 _Knowing that, this is going to sound counter-intuitive, but you need to turn on the supercomputer first. This is because we have a digital warrior from the future coming there. While you have been fighting admirably for two years, this warrior has been fighting for over 5 years straight. And, unlike you, he has fought with death on the line, and seen others fail. He has witness the deaths of his friends, and has persevered, knowing that that's what they would have wanted._

 _When he is satisfied, send a replay, with simply the word Cortex in the subject bar. I will then send you the coordinates to the Cortex._

 _Help us,_

 _Anthea Schaeffer_

Aelita gasped, shocked to her core, "My mother, is alive?" Jeremy nodded. "She's okay? She's working on a super computer? She's…" Her head whirled from all of the questions. She had long thought that her mother had been killed by the Men in Black. How was she okay?

Jeremy didn't have answers. Neither did Odd, but something was a bit more concerning to him, "Um, didn't she say something about our great old grade killer X.A.N.A. being back?" The rest of the group suddenly developed a headache. They had worked so hard, and yet X.A.N.A. may be back.

Yumi was the first to recover, "Well, we just will have to deal with him again. It's not like we never considered the possibility. We just need to be stronger, more aggressive. We beat him once, we can do it again, right?" She looked around the Lyoko Warriors, who all nodded optimistically.

"Then it's settled then." Ulrich stated, looking right at Aelita and Jeremy, who both nodded, "Let's go beat X.A.N.A. just like the old days. With the five of us."

"How about with the six of us?" a dark shadow loomed over Ulrich with a smirk. Ulrich snapped his head to look up at his older classman and rival for Yumi's affections. William Dunbar. William just smiled at Ulrich's angry gape, "You think I will let you guys go and take down X.A.N.A. without my help? I owe him some serious pay back."

Before Ulrich could object, Jeremy nodded, "Yes, he can join back up, but only if the new guy says so." Everyone looked back at Jeremy, who quickly pointed out something they had all missed, "Did you forget that we got a new member? Anthea is sending us some sort of future warrior."

Yumi raised her eyebrow at that, "Wait, who could that be?"

July 2026

Kirigaya Kazuto, otherwise known as Kirito, had the biggest migraine as he woke up. Well, that was the wrong term, but it best fit his situation. It was just like when he first logged into Sword Art Online at launch, except if he had been sleeping right before. He was more confused at what he was wearing, however. It looked like it had originated from Aincrad, but he had never seen it before. It was a black leather jacket, with silver and gold trim. He also had a chest plate, with a black t-shirt. His pants matched the jacket, but connected into big boots. "Where am I? How did I get here?"

"I brought you here, Dual Blades." Hearing it from behind him, Kirito turned around and faced the man that had both ruined and saved his life. The one who had trapped 10,000 players in a death game to satisfy his urge to become a God of a new world.

Akihiko Kayaba.

Though he wasn't dressed like the scientist he was in life, rather, he was dressed in his red armor that signified that he was the Commander of the Knights of the Blood Oath. He also had scars across the armor, as if he had involved in a giant fight. His face was grim as he spoke, which disturbed Kirito to his core. Kayaba was a sociopath. If he had a grim expression, something was wrong. "What's going on, Kayaba?"

Kayaba sighed, then opened a menu like he did in Sword Art Online, and instantly, screens flashed around Kirito. He looked at all of them, raising an eyebrow at everything. He then looked back at Kayaba, "What's with all the old CGI models? You brought me here to watch a cartoon?"

"No, I brought you here to send you back in time." Kayaba smirked at the shocked expression. "What you are seeing is the World Seed in one of its earliest incarnation, from 2008. Lyoko, a place designed to be a world without danger. However, a powerful virus, X.A.N.A., infected the system, and sought to destroy the world. These teenagers," Kayaba gestured at the models, "Choose to virtualize their own bodies into the world of Lyoko to take down X.A.N.A., and they almost succeeded."

"What happened?" Kirito was intrigued. He shouldn't be. He should be trying to get back to Asuna, and he knew that. But, these kids, they reminded him of SAO survivors, except they were willing. They were willing to take on the dangers of the virtual world.

"They created an anti-virus, and shut down most of X.A.N.A.'s plans. However, X.A.N.A. survived by locking himself out of the internet, while he created and deployed a counter-anti-virus. Once that was taking care of, he decided to strike at the Lyoko warriors, raising the stakes. That is where you come in."

"Wait, what? Why should I help you?"

"If they perish, the internet will fall in 2010, well before Sword Art Online's launch. Instead of your current happiness in the real world, you will fight in a rebellion against X.A.N.A.'s monsters. The worse tragedy," Kayaba smirked, "You will never meet Asuna."

Kirito narrowed his eyes, "Fine, how do I help? I mean, they fought back in 2008. We are living in 2026 if I recall correctly." In response, Kayaba slammed his shield down, and the room lit up. It was a blue dome, with a strange symbol on the floor. It reminded Kirito of an eye, for some reason.

"Welcome to the Carthage Sector of Lyoko. Well, sort of. This is really just a back-up I found. But, it has the one function of the Super Computer I need." Seeing Kirito's puzzled face, Kayaba shot Kirito a smug look, "Yes, Kirito, this computer can travel back in time. I will send you back to 2008, then immediately transport you to the real Lyoko. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to find the Lyoko warriors, and train them how to fight better, and aide them against X.A.N.A. Do you accept?"

Kirito sighed, "Since you're forcing my hand, yes, I will help. Send me their way, and I will end X.A.N.A.'s existence." Kayaba smiled, then activated his menu. A few swipes later, the room was spinning, charging its power for the jump back in time. This made Kirito realize something, "How am I supposed to get back?"

Kayaba shrugged, "Well, you'll figure it out." Before Kirito could object, the mastermind behind the Sword Art Online incident called, "SYSTEM CALL: INITIATE LYOKO COMMANDS; CALL: RETURN_TO_THE_PAST_NOW!"

Two beings sat in the lobby of a grand castle. One was sitting properly. He was dressed in blue samurai armor, with a single katana strapped to his belt. He was partially mediating. His companion, however, wasn't. He was slouching in his black armor, scrolling some web page across his face.

Finally, the time they had waited for had arrived. They both stood up, just as a man arrived in the room. The man was dressed in red armor, and held himself regally, "Are you ready to continue to the next phase?"

The black knight tilted his head, "Does that mean he has accepted his role?" After seeing Kayaba's nod, the black knight cracked his knuckles, "Good. Are we ready to head out, then?"

"I wouldn't be here if we weren't." The red knight stated. The three of them opened a portal, then headed out to their destination.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Time for introductions

September 2008

(Author's note: Check the last chapter if you haven't, it's been updated to follow my new plotline. Also, if you don't want to be spoiled on Season 3 of SAO, please go and read the SAO light novels to volume 14. It is from there that we diverge from canon. Last thing, I apologize for the delay, and would like to shout out Alluke and BarryLiV619 for reviewing. Every bit helps.)

Jeremy turned on the Super Computer. It was an event that should have never happened. The results of the Super Computer were never good. But, as the six Lyoko Warriors stood around the computer, they were excited. They didn't know it, but at their core, they were adventurers, protectors, and defenders. There was truly no better place for them.

Once the computer finished turning on, they headed up to the interface room, where the giant monitors and even the holographic projector was. Jeremy immediately hopped into his seat, and pulled up the Super Scanner. Running it, under the parameters to search for avatars, he turned to his companions, "So, who do you anticipate our new digital warrior to be?"

Aelita put her hand to her chin, "I hope it's a girl. We have four boys and two girls. Hopefully, Mom is sending us another girl." Yumi agreed with her statement.

Ulrich shrugged, "So long as they can fight, I really don't care. I hope they got the skills to keep up with the expectations we have."

William smirked, "Well, if our expectations are at your level, anyone could pass." Ulrich shot him a glare, but decided not to attack him. If he did, he lost, and he knew that.

Odd yawned, "I hope that they are a gamer. I'm kind of bored beating both William and Ulrich at Brawl." Both boys looked dumbfounded at Odd, who shrugged, "What? It's true. You both suck."

Jeremy snickered, then glanced back at the program. He turned, as he said, "Well, we will know soon. An unidentified avatar is currently residing in Sector 5." He suddenly moaned, "There is also a squadron of tarantulas heading that way."

Kirito opened his eyes once he had his form in this world. Looking around, he sighed. Yeah, this was going to be a nightmare. The world was white, with blue lights, and like a 3D labyrinth. He started walking, wondering where he was supposed to find these Lyoko warriors.

He was pretty sure that they weren't a bunch of weird looking mob enemies. The five creatures looked like some sort of demented spider, with only four legs. But those legs happened to be silver cannons.

Kirito stopped, and swiped down with his hand. The spiders didn't do anything. He equipped his swords from Alfheim. The spiders sat down. Kirito drew his blades. Their front legs raised themselves. Both waited for the first move.

One of the spiders, on the far left, decided to be the one to fire. As it did so, it discovered why Kirito was the Dual-Wielder. Reacting faster than even the computer could react, he slashed through three of the blasts. He sped his way to the attacker, and planted one of his obsidian-like blades right through the head. Instantly, the spider was destroyed.

Kirito turned his attention to the other four. Two were right in front of him, while the other two were farther back. They all didn't waste any time shooting at him. He responded by defecting the attacks while running at them. He got within striking range of the one to his right, and struck at the leg cannon that was about to fire with his left sword.

This caused the shot to hit the spider to the left. Stunning that one, Kirito focused on decapitating the offending enemy. Without stopping, he charged a Sword Skill, and hit the left enemy with Vorpal Strike. Both enemies vanished within a second of each other.

Still knocking the enemy blasts out of the way, he made his way to strike down the last two. This time, he leapt into the air, and was surprised to learn that he had his Alfheim wings. Not letting his excitement show on his face, he rushed down against the spiders. He struck both down through the head, leaving a long diagonal slash on both heads. They both vanished.

Kirito turned and glanced at his handiwork, but like every VRMMO he had ever played, there was no evidence of the spiders' existence. He sighed, then continued moving onwards through the labyrinth world.

Jeremy and the others gaped at the display of prowess and boredom that they had just witnessed. Due to a program Jeremy had written, they could actually render out the battles that transpired on Lyoko. This allowed Jeremy and whoever else was in the Control room to see the battles. They had used it to see if the new warrior was worth the hype.

He most certainly was, as he had effortlessly taken down the Tarantulas like they were nothing. The combination of determination, bishonen looks, and the black leather outfit caused the Lyoko warriors to react in different ways. Jeremy and Aelita saw a determined fighter, one who would take this fight seriously. Yumi saw a good-looking fighter, one that could maybe force Ulrich and William to work together. Ulrich and William saw competition for Yumi, and begrudging began to entertain the idea of working together. Odd just saw the Casanova he always wanted to be.

Jeremy was the first to speak, "Well, then, I think we should contact him now." Everyone nodded, so Jeremy called out on the intercom, "Hello, newcomer! What's your name?" As he did, he opened up a communication window, so that it appeared that they were skyping.

The Black Swordsman appeared a bit confused, "Kirito. Who are you?"

Jeremy gestured to himself, "My name is Jeremy, and this is," he gestured to every person in the room as he said their name, "Ulrich, William, Odd, Yumi, and Aelita." Kirito nodded at everyone, while every responded with a form of hello.

Kirito smiled, but for a brief moment, he winced, or so Aelita thought. Before she could think of why, the digital warrior said, "Well, I've been sent to help, but all I know is that a computer called X.A.N.A. will ravage the future, and we are here to stop it. Anything else I need to know?"

"Not really, but we have a few questions." Aelita spoke up, stepping so that Kirito focused on her, "How do you know my mom?" The other Lyoko warriors, who all had questions of their own, waited with bated breath on this one. This was much more important than theirs.

Kirito scratched the back of his head, "Unless your mom is a guy, I wasn't. The person who sent me was Kayaba Akihiko." He nearly snarled the name, but if you weren't tuned in, you could totally miss it.

"Oh," heartbroken, Aelita stepped back. Everyone looked at her mournfully, but she waved it off, "Well, we still have the shot of meeting her in the future. We will just have to get to her, which is your job." She gestured at Kirito, who raised his eyebrow.

Jeremy decided to step in, "So, the information we got on our end was that you are some sort of digital warrior, and that you could help train us to become better than our current level. When you are satisfied with our level, we head off to the Cortex to eliminate X.A.N.A. and reunite Aelita with her mom. Anything else we should know?"

Kirito scoffed, "Yeah, Kayaba wasn't as forthcoming with information as your source, apparently. Oh well." He glanced around, then looked back at Jeremy, "What do I need to know about Lyoko?" When Jeremy gave a perplexed look, Kirito elaborated, "I have fought in about many different virtual realities, each one had unique rules and mechanics. What do I need to know about this world's systems?"

Jeremy nodded, "Ah, right. Well, Lyoko is pretty basic, actually. The world is made up of five sectors: Forest, Ice, Mountain, Desert, and the one you are in. Technically it's called Carthage, but we call it Sector 5, since we discovered it later. Each of these sectors have a host of towers, which can be activated to change the real world. This can be anything from controlling electrical equipment to materializing data from Lyoko to the real world…"

"Wait, what?" Kirito widen his eyes at that sentence. "You can materialize virtual objects from virtual worlds into the real world?"

The Lyoko Warriors glanced at each other, before Ulrich spoke up, "Yeah, that is how we fight X.A.N.A. We scan ourselves in, virtualize into Lyoko, and when we die, we get pulled out. Why? How did you fight in the digital world?"

Kirito was too busy taking into account that he could save the denizens of the Underworld Server with this. Alice, the Integrity Knights, everyone, he could materialize them here. Even, "Yui." He uttered, hardly wanting to believe it. He could finally bring his daughter to the real world…

"Hey, hello Black Swordsman!" Odd shouted at the monitor, startling Kirito, "Man, you look like I do when the teacher calls on me." Kirito got back into battle position, and narrowed his gaze at the hyper teen. Odd just laughed and stretched his hand behind his head. That image shot pains through Kirito's head, bringing him back to the present.

"Let's just focus on what we need to do. Anything else I need to know about Lyoko?"

"Well, other than the fact all of X.A.N.A.'s monsters have a weak point, which you have discovered…" Jeremy trailed off, "Just don't fall into the Digital Sea. It will make it nearly impossible to pull you out of. Oh, and we have a time limit of twelve hours in between virtualizations. That means if we die on a mission…"

"You can't come back to finish it. Not quickly at least." Kirito nodded, "Well, then. How long will it take to for you guys to... get here? Maybe not all of you, but I would like to know where you guys stand in regard to power. I admit I'm not the best teacher, but most of my apprentices have survived."

Odd blanched, "You mean some DID die? Ouch man, hope I'm not the next…" Odd cut himself off when he saw Kirito's blank face. "Sorry."

Kirito sighed, "It's alright. She died a long time ago." He shook his head, then gestured with his hand in a taunt, "Come on, let's see who your best fighter is?" The Lyoko warriors glanced at each other, and Ulrich and William glared at each other.

Yumi was the first to break the silence, "Why don't you both go? Jeez, boys and their rivalries." Without saying a word, the targets of her words got up and headed to the elevator, leaving a distinct chill in the air. It was so bad, the Black Swordsman felt it.

After materializing, Ulrich and William drew their swords and faced Kirito, who only drew one sword, "I'm not going to hold anything back, but I'm not going to fire on all pistons either. That's why I'm not dual-wielding," Kirito lectured, "I just want to get a baseline for both of your respective levels."

They both nodded, then took off running at the Hero of Aincrad. William disappeared into a blur of black smoke, while Ulrich suddenly gained an afterimage. Huh, so they were fast. The gamer smirked, "This will be fun."

The former X.A.N.A. slave arrived first, manifesting himself swing his sword as hard as he could muster. However, Kirito simply stepped backed, and William over swung. Ulrich took that opportunity to jump over William and try to use an Impact on the black swordsman. Kirito dodged once again, and kicked Ulrich into William. They ended up in a heap.

"What are you doing? Get out of my way!" William shouted at his team mate, then attacked Kirito with his stalking combo slashes. Kirito leisurely stepped out of the way of most of the attacks, his eyes narrow. Is this really the best of the Lyoko Warriors?

Ulrich stood up, then called out "Triangulate!" Instantly, two clones emerged from Ulrich, and created a triangular perimeter around Kirito and William. Kirito raised an eyebrow, then quickly stabbed at one of the projections. The hit connected, and Ulrich crumpled over. Kirito then turned, and dodged William's blade like he was from the Matrix. Quickly standing, Kirito slashed down on William, taking him down.

Kirito reopened the communication window, "Jeremy. We have a problem."

After Ulrich and William got up to the control room, Kirito gave them a look they thought could stab their souls. Odd was trying to hold his laughter, while the girls sighed in disappointment. Jeremy simply asked, "So, what did we learn?"

Ulrich shrugged, and William said, "I don't get it, what did we do wrong?"

"Technically, nothing." Kirito shrugged. "Yeah, you did have a strategy that would have ruined you long-term, simply because you were focused on taking me down yourselves, and not working together, but you had a basic plan of working together. You just are…." Kirito struggled for the word that fit them best, "Basic."

"Basic?" Ulrich asked, "What do you mean?"

"I mean that you take the simplest routes. While this is a good plan, you leave too many openings. It would work more if you were using them for traps, but you weren't. You were too focused on the moment that you didn't plan for several moments later. I bet both of you would have thrown your swords if you had been more than thirty feet when I kicked you. Which would have meant you would be done for, since I have a decent skill level in Deflection."

Odd perked up, "Hey, skill level? Are you a gamer?" Kirito snapped his head to Odd, then nodded. Odd immediately fist pumped, "Yes! Finally, someone who knows!" Kirito chuckled, then sighed.

"Anyways, to get back on track, if you all agree that Ulrich and William are your best warriors, then you all need help." Kirito shrugged, "Then again, what tier were those monsters I fought?"

"About mid-tier. X.A.N.A. uses them when he doesn't want to go through a lot of cannon fodder. They are also pretty decent snipers." Jeremy analytically explained. Kirito nodded, pondering on that bit of information.

"Anything more skilled base, or does X.A.N.A. only use power hitters?" Kirito asked. This instantly made everyone else uncomfortable. Kirito narrowed his eyes, "What?"

William decided to be the one. "Not usually, no. He doesn't have any skilled warriors that are the equivalent to us. But," he sighed, "I got possessed by X.A.N.A. I was essentially his general, and I caused a lot of problems. In fact, most everyone here probably doesn't want me here."

"Well, I do." Kirito said bluntly, "While I bet it was your own fault you got yourself possessed, you didn't intentionally defect, right? So, don't blame yourself. Learn what you can from the experience, and work with us."

William looked shock, then got a determined face, "Alright, then. I'll bring my A-game." Ulrich sighed, Odd shrugged, and the others nodded approvingly. Yumi especially looked proud.

"Alright, any other confessions?" Odd joked, to which everyone looked at Kirito.

"What?"

Aelita decided to take the point, "You were surprised at the fact we could materialize on Lyoko, right?" Kirito nodded. "But, you are from the future, correct?" Kirito nodded. "So, how did you fight in your digital wars?"

Kirito sighed, "I guess you have a right to some of my life, since I will be teaching you. Just know that I've tried to put this all behind me." Kirito moved his gaze over to Odd, "Hey, what if I told you that if you wore this helmet I have and go to sleep, you could fully control your video game character like it was your own body?"

Odd shrugged, "As a Lyoko warrior, that's not too new. But, as a gamer, that sounds really cool."

"What if I told you that there was a really cool game coming out? One that was set in floating castle, where you could do nearly anything you couldn't do in the real world? Would you play it?"

"Absolutely! That sounds fun!"

Kirito leveled his stare, "That's what me and 9,999 other players thought, too. Little did we know that, on launch day, we would be trapped." Odd froze, as did the rest of the team, "The creator of the game rigged it so that if the helmet came off, we would die. If our HP went down, we would die. The only way out was to get to the top floor. To do that, we would have to climb 100 floors."

"Man, if someone did that to me, I'd kill them." William growled. Kirito grimaced.

"Yeah, well, we finally beat it. But we lost 3,853 players." Kirito stared down, "Anyways, ever since then I've worked for the government in investigating crimes inside of video games. I was also beta-testing a new Full Dive system, when I ended up here, on request." Kirito summed up. Most of the Lyoko warriors knew that he was hiding something, but they also know that this was all painful to him.

"Wait," Odd said, realizing something, "We could change the future! Make it so that this incident never happened, right?" All of the Lyoko warriors started nodding, but Kirito interrupted.

"And I would be stranded here, or go back to the future, where I might not even like video games, and thus never meet the love of my life." Kirito leveled a piercing stare. "Look, I appreciate the idea. I would love to save them all. But, we don't know how that would play out. It may make it so that someone else creates the death game, and I would rather not have the person I am thinking of have that kind of power." Kirito shuddered.

"So, how do we make sure we don't mess up the timeline?" Aelita asked, "I mean, is there something that makes sure that we don't mess it up too bad?"

The three knights walked into the room. Inside, there appeared to be a scanner, with a body floating in an unknown liquid. Not that the composition mattered: this was a digital space. The black knight stood in the center, while the red knight went to the left, and the blue knight went to the right. Nodding to each other, all drew their swords, and attacked the glass structure.

Instantly, the liquid flushed out, and all that remained was the body, which landed on his feet. Standing fully awake now, the body stretched, then looked at the red knight, "Are we ready, then?" the red knight nodded. "Good." He turned to the other two knights, "You two, prepare to return to the past. Aid them immediately." Nodding, the two knights strolled out. The red knight laughed, then made a joke.

The body smirked, then turned to face the wall. Three concentric circles, with four radial bars hanged there. "Let's take them down."


End file.
